Fierce
by RobertDowneyJrLove
Summary: At a black tie event, Tony proves just how far he's willing to go for his best friend and in the end, gets his girl. Shamelessly Pepperony!


Tony Stark hated black tie events.

Despite the fact that he had been told on more than one occasion that he looked ravishing in a black tuxedo, he still despised black tie events. The formality of the event was much to stuffy and proper for his liking. He prefered interacting with people on a much more casual level and being able to offer them a drink without receiving a disapproving look in return. However, he usually attended black tie event anyway because of the simple pleasure of seeing Pepper in something other than a business suit. The annual Firemen's ball thrown by Stark Industries was no different-it was way to formal and stuffy for his liking. After a little nagging on Pepper's part, he had begrudgingly traded his jeans and t-shirt for a crisp, clean black and white tuxedo.

"Rum on the rocks." Tony told the bartender, slipping a twenty across the bar to pay for the drink. While the bartender was making his drink, he turned and scanned the crowd looking for the only person who made these black tie events worth coming too.

"Tony!" A busty brunette screeched as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, leaving a bright pink lipstick print behind.

"Do I know you?" Tony asked her, his voice completely monotone and void of anything that might have indicated that he knew or remembered her.

"Evalyn?" The brunette questioned him as if begging him to remember her, "We had a fling about a year ago. Want to have another one?

"A fling. Yea, not interested." Tony mumbled pushing her off of him, grabbing his drink and darting away before another could latch on and stake their claim to him. As he slipped into the crowd, he continued searching for the only woman he wanted to see at the moment-and wiping the lipstick off of his cheek.

Spotting her in the throng of people hadn't been hard. The slinky blue dress which he had seen before and the waterfall of cayenne pepper curls made her easy to find among the sea of black and white. Even though there were a few women, most of them dressed modestly-Evalyn being the obvious exception if her bright pink dress was any indication-which made Pepper easy to find in a sea of modestly dressed men and women.

"Who is that?" Tony grumbled, finally able to get a better view of Pepper and the mystery man who was flirting with her.

The man was obviously just a few years younger than he was but not quite as experienced with women if Pepper's awkward stance was any indication. The way her body was angled away from the man trying to flirt with her quickly alerted Tony to Pepper's discomfort with being touched and flirted with by a man she had obviously never met before.

"Idiot." Tony grumbled under his breath as he wordlessly slipped through the crowd and made his way to Pepper.

Business associates, some of whom Tony was positive he didn't like, stopped him along the way for chats about business ventures he hadn't even thought about yet. After several awkward conversations in which Tony spent the majority staying silent, he finally made it to Pepper.

"Pepper," Tony whispered almost soundlessly, slipping his arm around her waist.

The man's startled expression at his sudden appearance made Tony snicker to himself and Pepper giggle quietly behind her hand. If the man had any experience with women it was limited at best, if the awkward way he had been flirting with Pepper was any indication. It was obvious that the man was clueless about several things regarding Pepper-including his protectiveness of the red-head.

"Tony Stark." He introduced himself to the younger man, "And I see you've met Pepper."

"Jason Stiller." The younger man introduced himself politely. "Yes, Pepper and I were just getting acquainted. I wasn't aware that you knew Pepper personally."

"She's my personal assistant." Tony told him, his arm instinctively tightening around Pepper's waist, effectively tucking her into his side, away from the grips of the younger man. "Is there a reason I wouldn't know her personally?"

"Well Pepper was never, to my knowledge, one of your many conquests so I assumed that you would not know her personally." Jason smirked into his glass of what appeared to be vodka but could have been water. Although alcohol was the logical choice considering his bold statements that the man seemed to inexperienced and to stupid to say sober.

"Excuse me?" Tony growled protectively, "Are you insinuating that because I haven't done anything politically incorrect with Pepper that I wouldn't know her personally?"

"Well your reputation precedes you, Stark." Jason smirked, dropping insinuating hints as if to tell Tony that, that's all Pepper was good for. "I mean, why else would you keep her around?"

"Stiller, I think you better get lost before I do something politically incorrect to your face!" Tony growled, his fierce protectiveness of Pepper coming out. "Although from the looks of it, your face could use a few improvements."

"She must be good for something other than being your personal assistant-unless she's your personal assistant in other ways as well." Jason smirked behind his glass of what could have been water or vodka.

By now everyone at the party had stopped to watch the two men fight. Pepper couldn't force herself to stop Tony-not when the idiot was well deserving of the bruised ego and busted nose he was about to walk away with.

"You think I hired Pepper because she was..." Tony trailed off unable to finish his sentence, growling angrily when his mind finished it for him. "Stiller, what right do you have insinuating anything like that? Pepper Potts is my best friend. I never hired her with the intention of making her one of my conquests, she's too good for that-for me. I knew the day I hired her as my assistant that if I ever tried to make her a conquest, I'd regret it-because I knew if that ever happened, I'd lose her. I couldn't deal with losing her. Even then. Even then I knew she'd end up meaning more to me than anything in the world."

"Oh c'mon Tony, you don't have lie in front of me." Jason patronized, lighting Tony's already shortened fuse.

Tony let go of Pepper and pushed her back a little bit to get her out of the way before he did something he wasn't sure he would regret later. It took him all of five seconds to connect his fist with Jason's nose and sufficiently break it. The sickening crunch made everyone gasp and the loud groan from Jason gave Tony the satisfaction of knowing that he'd sufficiently protected his best friend-in the fiercest way possible.

"Go find someone else to listen to your crap, because I've had enough of your accusations about why I hired my best friend." Tony growled, automatically reaching for Pepper as if to physically protect her. "Oh and one other thing, the reason I "keep her around" is because I'm too in love with her to see straight-and she happens to be in a relationship, with me."

Tony's fierce protective side was something Pepper was positive she had never seen before as he wrapped his arms around her and led her out of the party. If he'd ever been that fiercely protective of anyone, let alone her, she couldn't remember. It was almost as if they were both on autopilot as they got in the car and started the drive back to the Stark mansion.

"Tony," Pepper whispered as he pulled into his garage, "Did you mean what you said back there?"

He got out of the car without a word and moved around to her side to let her out of the car. He wordless grabbed her hand, helped her out of the car, shut the door and led her up the stairs into his mansion. The next few minutes were spent in silence as he stripped down to just his shirt and pants so that he was more comfortable before he turned to her and motioned for her to do the same. She carefully stepped out of her high heels and made her way to the couch.

"Pepper?" Tony whispered desperately, pleading with her to say something.

Before he could get another word in, Pepper had grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him to her. Because of the angle at which she pulled him, he ended up hovering above her, one hand on the couch behind her head and the other hand, resting on the back of the couch. Her pink lips, slick with a lipgloss that smelled faintly of raspberries, looked deliciously enticing and if he nuzzled close enough, he could smell the faint hint of a delicious perfume that Pepper normally would have considered to racy to wear to a black tie event.

"You protected me," Pepper whispered, her fingers crushing the white fabric of his shirt collar as she held him above her. "I can't think of any other time or any other man who would be willing to break someone's nose just because he said a few inappropriate things."

"A few inappropriate things?" Tony exclaimed, pulling away and standing up. "Jesus, Pepper, he might as well have said that the only reason I kept you around was to sleep with you! He insinuated it and he meant it! That's more than inappropriate, that's degrading to you and to me! You know I didn't keep you around to sleep with you!"

"Why did you keep me around?" Pepper asked, standing up to face him.

"You want to know why I kept you around?" Tony asked angrily. When she nodded, he continued. "I kept you around because you weren't afraid to put me in my place. You weren't afraid to bust that alcohol induced bubble I lived in! I kept you around because you refused to give up on me, even after everyone else did. Jesus, Pepper, you were the only one who wasn't afraid of me when I was drunk. I know what I'm like when I'm drunk! I can be mean and do things I won't remember in the morning. Pepper, I kept you around because I saw more than just a one night fling and a week long secretary! I saw a pair of blue eyes stare at me with disappointment when I did something wrong, I saw myself wanting to change just to keep you from being disappointed again. I love you, Pepper. That's why I kept you around because the moment you walked into the room, I fell for you-hard...my ego's still trying to recover."

"I think your ego's just fine!" Pepper laughed.

He pouted playfully as he reached for her, wrapping his arms around her waist and tucking her against his body. His eyes softened, his lips settled in a tender, adorable grin and his voice was a soft, sexy timbre as he continued, "I love you, Pepper and I don't ever want you to think that I kept you around to make you a conquest, that was never my intention and it will never be my intention. You're my best friend, you've always been there for me and I don't want to take the chance that I could lose you if I did make you one of my many conquests."

"I love you too, Tony." Pepper whispered, her hands crushing the white fabric of his shirt as she bunched in fists.

"Can I kiss you now?" Tony laughed.

"You could have done it earlier but you kind of went a little crazy." Pepper breathed quietly.

Tony wasted no time in closing the gap between them, his lips settling over hers in a tender kiss. The sweet taste of raspberries mixed with the taste of rum as they deepened the kiss. They pulled away, both breathless and wanting more, but in desperate need of oxygen.

"I think I like protective Tony." Pepper giggled breathlessly.

"Good, because if anyone says anything bad about you again, you might be seeing a lot more him." Tony grinned as he leaned in again.

The sweetness of raspberries and the warmth of rum was all either of them tasted as they spent the night in each other's arms, whispering three little words over and over again. Three little words that meant so much to both of them.

After that night, nobody dared to call Pepper anything less than what she was. She was Tony's love, his best friend and the only person on earth who could bring out his fierce protective side.

xxx

**I had a lot of fun writing this! I started it like two months ago but was never really sure which direction I wanted to take it in but this works! **

**This story is for captain ty, one of the most loyal reviewers I have in the Iron Man fandom along with thatpersonwhoisthatperson! I have a few loyal reviewers but they are the best! **

**Love ya, **

**RobertDowneyJrLove**

**P.S. the reason I call Pepper, Tony's love instead of his girlfriend, is because she means much more to him than just a girlfriend. She's his best friend and means more to him than any of his past flings.**


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